Word Origin & History

charter mid-13c., from O.Fr. chartre "charter," from L. chartula, dim. of charta "paper, document" (see chart). The verb meaning "to hire" is attested from 1806. Charterhouse, the great English public school founded in London in 1611, is a folk etymology from chartreux (see chartreuse); it was founded upon the site of a Carthusian monastery.

Example Sentences for charter

Is there a second to the nomination for the Charter Committee?

But your father says the charter arrangement is ended, and you may go where you like in your steamer.

The treasurer was authorized to send to Lenox for a 'charter.'

I could not charter a steamer, and there was no conveyance on the other side of the Mississippi.

Bind yourself to do it by amending the charter so that the highest price your gas can be sold at will be sixty cents.

The only thing we could do was to charter one with a crew of four men.

A company cannot purchase its own shares unless by charter or statute such action is clearly authorized.

The repeal of the Nauvoo charter, in January, 1845, unloosened their tongues.

One element of his success was no doubt the change in the charter of 1609.